A former chief prosecutor has slammed the “unacceptable” delay in action against police officers whose failings are said to have hindered the 1993 enquiry into Stephen Lawrence’s murder.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has had a file of evidence linked to four officers involved in the original investigation for two-and-a-half years, but is yet to make any charges.
Nazir Afzal OBE, former Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West England, has criticised the time taken saying “justice delayed is justice denied”.
“The CPS have thus far taken 2 1/2 years considering charges against officers in respect of Stephen Lawrence misconduct allegations,” he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night.
“I think that’s unacceptable for the suspects & Stephen’s family & the rest of us.”
Mr Lawrence was just 18 when he was brutally killed in a racist attack by a group of six white teenagers he did not know, as he and a friend waited for a bus in Eltham, south-east London, on the evening of April 22, 1993.
The original investigation into his murder was hampered by racism and alleged corruption despite officers being given the names of five suspects in the days after he died.
Five men were arrested following the attack, but it was not until 2012 that two of them - Gary Dobson and David Norris - were eventually handed life sentences after being found guilty of murder.
Watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct directed the National Crime Agency to investigate whether corruption played a part in the failure to bring anyone to justice for nearly 20 years.
It passed a final file of evidence linked to four former officers to the CPS in June 2021. The CPS said more information has been provided at its request in the two years since the file was received, but no charging decision has yet been made.
In 1999, the damning Macpherson Report on the murder and its aftermath found the Met was institutionally racist.
Earlier this year, another report by Baroness Dame Louise Casey found that nearly 24 years later, the force was still institutionally racist, as well as sexist and homophobic.
Scotland Yard has faced fresh calls to reopen the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation this week, after it emerged police involved in the original probe had bungled its handling of information regarding a sixth suspect in the murder.
The sixth suspect was named by the Met on Monday as Matthew White, following a BBC investigation. White died in 2021, aged 50.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said any officer proved to have committed misconduct should face severe sanctions, adding: “Anyone found to have failed in their duty must be held to account.”
Responding to Mr Afzal’s comments, Nick Price, head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: “An initial file of evidence was submitted by the IOPC in January 2021, followed by a completed file in June 2021. After that further material was provided by the IOPC at our request.
“This is a complex case, with a substantial amount of evidence and material to consider. It is vital that prosecutors review the case carefully and thoroughly before making a decision.”
